Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent; progressively debilitating health condition that affects over 12 million diagnosed and an estimated 12 million more undiagnosed individuals in the U.S. COPD is responsible for approximately 140,000 deaths and costs upwards of 50 billion annually. Unlike other leading causes of death, COPD continues to rise and in 2008, it became the 3rd leading cause of death in the US. Individuals with COPD may spend years undetected and even when diagnosed properly, individuals often receive inconsistent care that does not follow evidence based practices, account for the multiple complex comorbid conditions or practice patient centered principles in a team approach. Public and private research investment has yielded great advances, yet studies show many patients do not benefits from these advances and large research gaps remain. The clinical care team often lacks sufficient training on new therapies and work in silos, preventing proper care coordination and causing even greater barriers in translating from the bench to bedside. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) have shown dedication to the need for basic research in COPD, and to making the connections to the clinical and patient communities to ensure improvements to public health status. The NHLBI's funding for the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD project, Spiromics and NETT are complimented by its investment in the COPD: Learn More Breathe Better Campaign and its commitment to inter-agency partnerships to advance the epidemiological study of COPD in the U.S. To meet the need for a education and research forum to advance public and private, multi-disciplinary communication solely focused on COPD, the COPD Foundation partnered with international experts Robert Stockley and Sue Hill to adapt the successful European COPD Conferences Series to US specific needs. COPD8USA is the second in the US series and will be convened alongside the Readmissions in COPD Pre-Conference Summit and the COPD Community Education Workshop from June 13-15, 2013 in Chicago, IL. The University of Nebraska Medical Center, Center for Continuing Education (UNMC-CCE) will serve as the accredited provider for COPD8USA. The overall objective of COPD8USA is to stimulate the government, clinical, research and patient communities to create a coordinated and comprehensive approach for improvements in the knowledge and implementation of research, clinical care, care delivery coordination and other public health interventions critical to reversig the growing burden of COPD. COPD8USA participants and faculty represent the entire spectrum of clinical care teams, academic researchers, hospital administrators and care coordinators, government and private policy makers and patients and caregivers that are affected by the disease. COPD8USA offers a unique forum to foster learning and interactions between COPD experts and conference attendees, including young investigators.